A desperate pair of white South African farmers are begging the commander-in-chief to help them flee the embattled nation and settle in United States.
Onion and potato farmers Zenia and Ludwich Pretorius told The Post they’ve been the victim of violent attacks since July — and driven off their land by their neighbors solely because of the color of their skin, as local police do nothing.
“To be perfectly honest with you I burst into tears of joy when Trump came into office,” Zenia Pretorius 46, told The Post by phone from the city of Polokwane, where they have been living in fear since August.
Zenia, her husband Ludwich and their three young children, ages 13, 12 and 9, are now keenly hoping to take advantage of President Trump’s executive order granting refugee status to South Africans like themselves, who have been victimized by laws that target them because they are white.
The order was precipitated by a new law in the country which would allow land expropriation without compensation — though no date has been set for it to take effect.
The law echoes similar “land reform” legislation by Zimbabwe during the 1980s, which saw the state snatch land from white farmers en masse, which swiftly led to the economic collapse of that nation.
“We are ready to go and the kids are ready to go … My daughter knows which sports she wants to do — we are ready to go tomorrow. ” said Zenia.
The family’s saga was first reported by South Africa’s Sunday Times.
Attacks on white landowners has been an ongoing issue in South Africa.
In 2023 there were 49 murders and 296 attacks on white farmers, according to the South African NGO AfriForum.
The Pretorius family — multi-generational South Africans — first purchased the farm in 2002. The land abuts the neighboring community of Taaibos, an informal government settlement — about 175 miles north of Johannesburg.
Over the years the family become used to illegal trespassing, poaching, and petty theft. Such offenses largely go unpunished.
They raised cattle until theft forced them to give that up five years ago.
Last year the neighboring Taaibos community began to sharply escalate incursions onto the 7,400-acre property — and demanding use of the land for cattle grazing.
“The s–t really hit the fan in July 2024,” Zenia recalled. “We were in the middle of a sale of the farm, we are in the middle of a contract. We were in the last phases, a week away from signing the transfer papers.
“On the 6th of July, they cut our border fence between the farm and the Taaibos area. A [3.8 mile] border fence completely cut up into little bits. So they could send in their cattle that should not be grazing on our side,” Zenia recalled.
“We want our own land back,” read a sign ominously posted to the wreckage.
Police initially responded by impounding the offending cattle, angering the locals.
“All of a sudden messages started coming through, which [Ludwich] has on his phone, that all these locals would gather at the farm and say they want they cattle back and they want the farm,” Zenia said.
When the Pretorius family sent workers to try and rebuild the fence, locals beat them with sticks and took three of them hostage for several hours.
“It got loud, it got rowdy, it got verbally violent, they started to threaten to burn down my farm. I was there with my kids and I saw a crowd was gathering,” Zenia recalled — chanting old apartheid-era songs calling for the death of white people.
“They were screaming all kinds of slurs and racist remarks and singing ‘kill the farmer’ and ‘kill the Boer.’
“So we realized that this is a bigger issue than just the cattle and wanting to graze on our farm.”
After the property become overrun with the uninvited guests, the nervous buyer bowed out.
Without the sale, the Pretorious’ were unable to service outstanding debts on the property — which is now scheduled for auction. Zenia said she expected it would eventually just end up being incorporated into the neighboring Taaibos tract.
With finances tight, Ludwich took a job working for another farmer, while Zenia has started a business selling freeze-dried candy.
“I was in grocery store, It was just me and my daughter and amongst probably 60 or 70 people around us — and this guy says I want to f—k my white ass, just out of the blue,” said Zenia. “My daughter refuses to go to the shops with me.”
“Staying here is not an option,” Zenia said.